Key takeaways from the Nottingham public inquiry so far

A killer's history of violence and a string of police failings form just some of the evidence heard so far by a public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks.

On 13 June 2023, Valdo Calocane - who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia three years earlier - stabbed to death Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley Kumar and Ian Coates.

He then stole Ian's van and drove into the city centre, where he struck pedestrians Wayne Birkett, Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski, leaving them with life-changing injuries.

Calocane was sentenced to a hospital order in January 2024, after pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and to three counts of attempted murder.

The attacks are now being scrutinised as part of the Nottingham Inquiry, which is hearing from more than 100 witnesses as the lead-up to what happened, the investigation that followed and the aftermath are examined.

Since 23 February, the judge-led inquiry has heard more than 100 hours of evidence from more than 70 witnesses.

Here are some key takeaways from the evidence so far.

The former chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, Kate Meynell, admitted in her evidence that Calocane should have been arrested before he carried out the attacks.

A warrant for his arrest was issued in September 2022 after he failed to appear at court for assaulting Nottinghamshire Police officer PC Barnaby Pritchard.

Calocane had attacked him a year earlier while he was being detained under the Mental Health Act.

He was in hospital when he was due to appear at court after being sectioned on another occasion. However, police had nine months to execute the warrant.

A number of police personnel have been challenged over the suggestion that executing the warrant would not have made a difference.

Police bosses admitted that not arresting Calocane had been a "serious and systemic and operational failure".

Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace's father, said it was "perhaps the biggest missed opportunity".

In her evidence, Meynell said the force had "completely changed" the way warrants were managed after the attacks and added they were reviewed on a daily basis.

At Calocane's sentencing hearing, the court was told he had no previous convictions.

However, the inquiry heard he had a history of police interactions linked to violent incidents, including the assault on Pritchard, dating back to 2020.

In May 2020, Calocane was experiencing a psychotic episode when he kicked in the door of a woman's flat at Brook Court in Radford.

The woman fell from a window as she attempted to flee and was left needing metalwork and screws surgically fitted to her spine.

In July 2021, while he was a student at the University of Nottingham, Calocane suddenly grabbed his housemate, Sebastian, by the shirt and held him up against a wall. Sebastian also reported being followed home by Calocane in 2022.

In January 2022, while living at different accommodation, Calocane put his flatmate, Christopher, into a headlock following a confrontation about cleaning.

Weeks before the attacks, in May 2023, Calocane violently assaulted two colleagues at a warehouse in Leicestershire.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, admitted that searches for the Nottingham attacks killer should have been better.

After fatally stabbing Barnaby and Grace, Calocane walked almost two miles across the city to Magdala Road, where he killed Ian.

He also attempted to break into a hostel on the way.

A number of cameras captured Calocane's movements on that morning, the inquiry heard, but police searches were directed towards the city centre.

Griffin, who was the assistant chief constable at the time, was among a number of police personnel who gave evidence to say they were unaware of who was coordinating searches on the day.

"The co-ordination of that search activity should have been better," he told the inquiry.

"There is no question about that."

Retired murder investigation officer Pamela Dowson - who was called to Ilkeston Road, where Grace and Barnaby had been killed - told the inquiry she "wasn't updated sufficiently" on the morning of the attacks.

She was called to the scene shortly after 04:00 BST.

By 05:14, Calocane had fatally stabbed Ian, and by 05:23, he had hit Wayne with Ian's van, and by 05:29, he had also struck Sharon and Marcin.

Dowson said she was not informed the incidents were linked until Calocane had been arrested.

And, by 05:30, the force had declared Operation Plato - a national identifier of a "marauding terrorist attack" - but a number of officers were not told immediately.

Insp Peter Shaw, who was also at the scene in Ilkeston Road, said he was not informed of the declared terrorist incident until after 10:00, by which point he said "it was not relevant".

He said it had been a "failure" that he, as the ground commander, was not told but called it "an error on the night" rather than a systemic issue.

The attacks were ultimately not treated as terrorism-related.

Barnaby and Grace were attacked by Calocane at about 04:00 and, by 05:30, police had established their identities.

But Barnaby's parents were not told their son had died until after 10:00 despite contacting the police for information themselves.

After seeing news of the attacks and attempting to call Barnaby, his father David Webber used the Find My Phone app to check his location and later tracked his phone being taken to Radford Road Police Station.

Grace's parents also saw news of the attacks and became increasingly worried as the morning progressed and they had not heard from her.

Her mother, Dr Sinead O'Malley-Kumar, called a helpline shown on the TV and the Queen's Medical Centre, but was told Grace had not been admitted.

After picking up Grace's brother James from school at about 11:00, Sinead received a call from Grace's friends saying they had not seen her and she was not in her accommodation.

At midday, the family said they were called by police, who told them they were sending officers down to them - to which Sanjoy said: "No, you're not, we're driving up."

Two of Ian's three sons - James and Lee - told the inquiry they waited even longer.

James said he found out his dad had died through social media at about 15:00.

After piecing together what had happened, Lee said the family called 101, the attacks helpline and 999 in an attempt to get information.

It was not until about 17:00 that James said he received a call from the police about his dad's death - 10 minutes before Meynell gave a televised statement to the media.

In her evidence to the inquiry, Meynell said: "It's my understanding from what I've read that we notified them as soon as we possibly could."

Ian's partner, Elaine Newton, was informed of his death on the morning of the attacks, but she was told by police officers that he had died in a road traffic accident.

She was taken home from work by the officers but said she received no further details for about five hours.

Elaine asked if Ian was at the hospital but was told there was "no information".

It was not until later in the day that Elaine was told Ian had in fact been stabbed to death.

She told the inquiry: "It felt like he'd been killed twice.

"It wasn't right. The first information I accepted, but the second I couldn't.

"You don't know which one is true - have they got the wrong person? I felt it was all not right. It was just a mess."

The inquiry also heard that Ian's body was left at the scene for 15 hours.

Grace and Barnaby were both tested for drugs and alcohol after the fatal attacks - but Calocane was not.

The inquiry heard the killer had refused to consent to urine and blood samples while in custody.

Barnaby and Grace's parents asked whether a hair sample could be taken, but that was not carried out either.

However, their children's bodies were tested following their deaths.

Grace and Barnaby's parents were asked to sign "human tissue forms" so their children's bodies could be released following the attacks.

It was not highlighted to them that the form also gave consent for samples to be taken.

Sanjoy told the inquiry: "They took samples from our children to test for drugs and alcohol. I was really struck by that being really quite disgusting."

Calocane was initially charged with murder before later pleading guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, as well as three counts of attempted murder.

But the inquiry heard how police progressed with the charge before being given proper authorisation by the Crown Prosecution Service.

On 16 June 2023, the senior investigating officer in the case, now retired Det Supt Leigh Sanders, "jumped the gun" to charge Calocane.

It was also on that day Sanders had been informed of stories about the outstanding warrant that were going to run in the media.

By charging Calocane, any reporting would be limited to avoid prejudicing legal proceedings.

Tim Moloney KC, representing the bereaved families, asked Sanders: "Are you sure that you didn't charge to shut down the stories of police failings around the warrant and police investigations?"

Sanders replied: "Absolutely not."

Following the attacks, it emerged a number of police staff had viewed sensitive information about the attacks, the victims and the killer without a proper policing purpose.

An officer also sent an "offensive" message about the attacks in a WhatsApp group, which included the then chief constable's son.

The survivors and the bereaved families said they learned about the WhatsApp group and data breaches through the media.

Tracey Hodgson, partner of Wayne, told the inquiry the survivors were "forgotten" by police.

When giving her evidence, Meynell was asked if she agreed there had been "fundamental failures of communication" with the surviving victims - to which she said: "Yes."

By September 2023, the police's professional standard's department was investigating three people for misconduct in relation to potential data breaches but a decision was made to delay telling the families further.

The inquiry also heard no formal investigation was carried out into the data breaches, prompting Barnaby's mother, Emma Webber to make a formal complaint.

The Nottingham Inquiry, which is being chaired by retired senior judge Deborah Taylor KC, officially started when the terms of reference were laid out in May last year.

Public hearings paused for a break over the Easter period and are set to continue on Monday.

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